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Evolving the Eight-function Model
8 Archetypes guide how the function-attitudes
are expressed in an individual psyche
John Beebe

“There’s much talk in the type world nowadays pressed that attitude in a particular way. Accordingly, he organ-
about the Eight-Function or Whole Type Model, and my ized his general description of the types in terms of the atti-
name is sometimes brought up as a pioneer in this area. tudes, describing first “the peculiarities of the basic psychologi-
I appreciate this opportunity to establish the his- cal functions in the extraverted attitude” and then going on to
torical context of what I’ve contributed, and explain in “the peculiarities of the basic psychological functions in the
my own words what my innovations are.” introverted attitude.”
— John Beebe Jung started with extraverted thinking and extraverted
feeling (which he called “the extraverted rational types”) and
extraverted sensation and extraverted intuition (“the extra-
Historical background– verted irrational types”), before turning to the introverted types:
introverted thinking and introverted feeling (“introverted ra-
Jung’s eight functions tional types”), and introverted sensation and introverted intui-
tion (“introverted irrational types”). These were the eight func-
tions in Jung’s original description.

I t was C G Jung, of course, who introduced the language we


use today: words such as function and attitude, as well as
his highly specific names for the four functions of our
conscious orientation (thinking, feeling, sensation, intuition),
and the two attitudes through which those orientations are
These functions were nothing less than capacities for
consciousness residing within any individual—though of course
most people do not differentiate all these capacities for their
own use. It was Jung who taught us that most people pair a
rational function with an irrational one to develop a conscious
deployed (introversion and extraversion). orientation, or, as he put it, an ego-consciousness, that for most
Establishing the rationale for this language as a helpful people involves just these two differentiated functions.
basis for the analysis of consciousness was the purpose of his Despite Isabel Briggs Myers’s later reading of a single
1921 book, Psychological Types. Toward the end of that book sentence in Jung’s long and often contradictory book (Myers &
he combined function types and attitude types to describe, in Myers 1980:19; Jung 1921/1971:406, para 668), he never made
turn, eight function-attitudes. Regrettably it wasn’t until Dick clear that the attitude type of the two functions in this two-
Thompson published his 1996 book Jung’s Function-Attitudes function model of consciousness would alternate between
Explained that we had that term for them, so most Jungians function # 1 and function #2.
have simply referred to them as eight “functions”. Jung did, however, open the door to the possibility of a
Nevertheless, for Jung the attitude type was the primary further differentiation of functions, up to a limiting number of
thing, and the function type a kind of subsomething that ex- four: the fourth to differentiate being his famous “inferior”
function, which remains too close to the unconscious, and thus
a source of errors and complexes.
John Beebe MD (ENTP), a Jungian analyst, lectures on psychologi- Jung said relatively little about the third function. He
cal types in many parts of the world. His writings on type have ap-
expected that both functions #3 and #4 would, in most people,
peared in the Chiron Clinical Series, Journal of Analytical Psychol-
ogy, Psychological Perspectives, and several books, including his remain potentials only, residing in the unconscious, represented
pioneering 1992 study, Integrity in Depth. in dreams in archaic ways and relatively refractory to develop-

Winter 2008 • 9
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ment except under exceptional circumstances—such as the


individuation process Jung sometimes witnessed in the analysis
Basic orientation–
of a relatively mature person in the second half of life, when the
archaic functions would press for integration into conscious-
Hero/Heroine, Father/Mother,
ness. and Puer/Puella
© Photographer: Kuzma, Dreamstime.com

B y then I thought I knew my own type—extraverted


intuition, with introverted thinking as my second
function—and I had taken the MBTI questionnaire,
which scored me ENTP, in apparent confirmation of my self-
diagnosis. It was in dreams that I met my Anima as a humble,
introverted-sensation type Chinese laundress, and it was she
who could provide me a bridge to the practicalities of life that
my conscious standpoint, ever theoretical, tended to leave out.
I think it was also she who made me consider sorting out the
rest of my consciousness. Which archetypes were associated
with my other functions?
I began to watch my dreams. Gradually it became obvi-
ous that when they symbolized my extraverted intuition, it was
in a heroic, rather grandiose way. (In a dream, I once saw
President Lyndon Johnson, architect of the Great Society in
my country, as an image of my dominant extraverted intuition,
which gave it a high-handed, crafty cast, a bit out of touch
with the actual readiness of those around me for the changes
that I wanted to introduce in their lives, in the name of helping
Anima / Animus– them progress.)
Bridge to the Unconscious My introverted thinking was symbolized by a Father in
one dream that found him in conflict with an upset feeling-
type son, whom I eventually recognized as an image of my

W hen Jung’s close associate Marie Louise von Franz


published her Zurich seminar on the inferior func-
tion, in Lectures in Jung’s Typology, I was already
a candidate in analytic training at the C G Jung Institute of San
third function. The particular son figure in the dream was a
persistently immature man in analysis at the time, whose
oscillation of woundedness and creativity fit well the descrip-
tion Marie Louise von Franz had given in her classic study of
Francisco. Her discussion of the possibilities for development the “problem of the Puer Aeternus” (1970), the Latin term
in this largely unconscious area of the mind was thrilling to referring to an eternal boyhood befitting an immortal. I de-
read, and it opened up the four-function model for a whole cided that this dream was referring to an aspect of my own
generation of analysts. feeling that was inflated, vulnerable and chronically immature.
Von Franz made it clear that we have a choice about In this way, I began to evolve my understanding that the
developing function #3, but that the integration of function #4, four functions are brought into consciousness through the
the inferior function, is very much under the control of the dynamic energy of particular archetypes:
unconscious, which limits what we can do with it. Neverthe-
less, this much of the unconscious belongs in a sense to the • Hero for the superior function
ego—and even provides the bridge to the Self that the other • Father for the second or “auxiliary” function
differentiated functions can not. • Puer for the tertiary function
I became aware that the inferior function was often • Anima for the inferior function
thought by Jungian analysts to operate in this way because it is
“carried” by the Anima or Animus, archetypes of soul that can My functions were carried into consciousness on the
serve as tutelary figures, representing the otherness of the backs of those archetypes! A great deal of their functioning,
unconscious psyche, and also its capacity to speak to us to even after they became conscious—that is, available to me as
enlarge our conscious perspectives (Jung 1921/1971: 467-472) ways of perceiving and assessing reality—continued to reflect
(note 1). The Anima and Animus are like fairy bridges to the the characteristic behavior of these archetypes.
unconscious, allowing, almost magically, a relationship to Later, I found evidence in the dreams of women for a
develop between the two parts of the mind, conscious and Heroine, a Mother, and a Puella Aeterna (eternal girl), sym-
unconscious, with the potential to replace this tension of bolizing the first three functions of consciousness in a highly
opposites with the harmony of wholeness. And it is through analogous arrangement to the way my own were symbolized. I
the undifferentiated, incorrigible inferior function that they do could also verify from their dreams what other Jungian ana-
their best work! lysts had already established, that the Animus carries the
inferior function for a woman—although I came to reserve
that term for a spirit or soul figure operating as a bridge to the

10 • Jung Society of Atlanta


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unconscious, and not simply to refer to an antagonistic or


argumentative side of the woman, as some were doing in
accord with the more normal English language use of the word
animus, which does not include its Jungian, spiritual meaning
(Emma Jung, 1957).
I went public with these ideas for the first time in 1983, at
a conference for Jungian analysts and candidates at Ghost
Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico. There I offered the first
archetypal model for the various positions of consciousness
that heretofore had been called “superior,” “auxiliary,”
“tertiary,” and “inferior” functions. I suggested that these
should be thought of, respectively, as the Heroic function, the
Father or Mother function, the Puer or Puella function, and
the Anima or Animus function, in accord with the nature of the
archetype that had taken up residence in each of these four
basic locations of potential consciousness.
Wow! Behind each typological position in the unfolding
of conscious, an archetype was involved, guiding us to be
heroic, parental, and even puerile and contrasexual, as part of
what makes us capable of becoming cognizant of ourselves
and the world around us.

The Shadow Personality–


Opposing Personality, Senex/Witch,
Trickster, and Demonic Personality

A t the time I was too dazzled by the seeming complete-


ness of the four-function model to see that even more
delineation was needed to make sense of what Jung
had said we could find in ourselves, if his vision of a whole-
ness to consciousness could be realized © Photographer: Christopher Howey, Dreamstime.com
Four functions were still only half the story of how con-
sciousness arranges itself. Jung said in Psychological Types
that if one takes into account the all-important attitudes, extra- seeking to express themselves within the same person.
version and introversion, we have to realize that there are in The result, I realized, was almost always a repression of
all eight functions, or, as we say now, function-attitudes. one member of such a pair of functions, as a consequence of
Von Franz had postulated that the greatest difficulties that the conscious preference for the attitude through which the
occur between people are on the basis of one using a function other member of the pair was expressing that function. In my
with a particular attitude (e.g., extraversion), and the other own case, I had figured out that my tertiary function was not
using the same function with the opposite attitude (e.g., intro- only feeling, but extraverted feeling, and that my inferior
version). I decided to apply that idea to the situation within a function was introverted sensation. Where were my intro-
single psyche, in which the antagonism was not between two verted feeling and extraverted sensation? Obviously, deep in
people, but between two functions with opposite attitudes, the unconscious, kept there because they were shadow in
attitude to the function-attitudes that I had differentiated.
Even more in shadow were the functions opposite in
Note 1 attitude to my first two functions—that is, the introverted
I have adopted Jung’s use of Latin when speaking of the Anima and
Animus (literally, “soul” and “spirit”) because that language allows intuition that my superior extraverted intuition tended to
for gender (the Anima often being a feminine figure in a man, and inhibit, and the extraverted thinking that my auxiliary intro-
the Animus a masculine one in a woman), and because it conveys verted thinking looked down upon.
the archaic quality of these deep structures of the mind that Jung These four functions—introverted intuition, extraverted
uncovered in his explorations of the unconscious. thinking, introverted feeling, extraverted sensation—continued
to express themselves, however, in shadowy ways. What, then,
Jung called them archetypes of the collective unconscious, but
when carrying function #4, the inferior function, I feel they also were the archetypes that carried these repressed shadow func-
form part of the conscious mind’s functioning. Hence I regard them tions?
as egosyntonic—compatible with the ego and its preferred function- Answering this question led me to take up the problem of
attitude—even though carrying values from the unconscious mind the types in shadow, which has preoccupied me ever since.
that compensate the attitude of the person’s superior function. Work in this area has to be tentative, because we never fully
Winter 2008 • 11
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Hero / Heroine Opposing Personality


#1 (superior or #5 (same function as #1
dominant function) but with opposite attitude)

Father / Mother Puer / Puella Senex/Witch Trickster


#6 (same function as #2 #7 (same function as #3
#2 (auxiliary function) #3 (tertiary function) but with opposite attitude) but with opposite attitude)

Anima / Animus Demonic Personality


#8 (same function as #4
#4 (inferior function) but with opposite attitude)

Diagram 1: Archetypal complexes carrying the eight functions of consciousness

see our own shadow, but in my case I began to identify typi- Senex/Witch, Trickster, and Demonic Personality—and the
cal, shadowy ways in which I would use the four functions function-attitudes they carried for me—introverted intuition,
that lie in the shadow of my more differentiated quartet of extraverted thinking, introverted feeling, extraverted sensa-
individuated function-attitudes. My introverted intuition, tion—were all what a psychologist would call ego-dystonic.
shadow in attitude to my superior extraverted intuition, has That is, they were incompatible with my conscious ego or
decidedly oppositional traits: it expresses itself in ways I could sense of “I-ness”—what I normally own as part of “me” and
variously describe as avoidant, passive-aggressive, paranoid “my” values. Nevertheless, they were part of my total func-
and seductive, in all cases taking up a stance that is anathema tioning as a person, uncomfortable as it made me to recognize
to the way my superior extraverted intuition wants me to the fact.
behave. I decided to call the archetype carrying this bag of In this way, using myself as an example, and my years of
oppositional behaviors the Opposing Personality. Jungian analysis as a laboratory, I eventually came to identify
Similarly, my fatherly introverted thinking, a patient eight discrete archetypes guiding the way the eight function-
teacher of complex ideas, was shadowed by a dogmatic, don- attitudes are expressed within a single, individual psyche
nish extraverted thinking that didn’t listen, or even care about (Beebe 2004).
others’ ideas. I decided to call this rather pompous, unrelated Although, for convenience of reference, and out of re-
figure my Senex, using James Hillman’s (1967/1979) choice spect for the traditional numbering of the functions, I am in
of name for an archetype that is coldly, arrogantly, judg- the habit of assigning numbers to the function-attitude
mental, in an old-man-pulling-rank sort of way. (The Latin “positions” associated with these archetypes, I no longer view
word senex, root of our word “senator,” means “old man.”) the type profile of an individual as expressing a rigid hierarchy
Gradually I realized that women I knew had a similar of differentiation of the various functions of consciousness.
archetype carrying the shadow of their normally motherly Rather, I have come to regard the positions the types of
auxiliary function, and that this archetype displays many of function-attitude seem to occupy, when we construct a model
the “negative mother” characteristics I had learned to associate of them in our minds, in a much more qualitative light. It is as
with the Witch figure in European fairytales (von Franz 1972). if they form an interacting cast of characters through which
The shadow side of my eager-to-please but oh-so- the different functions may express themselves in the ongoing
vulnerable-to-the-feelings-of-others internal boy was the drama of self and shadow that is anyone’s lived psychological
Trickster, which in me, with its confident introverted feeling, life.
could reverse any expectation—to double-bind anybody who Although the actual casting of specific function-attitudes
tries to ride herd on the child. (As a little boy, to taunt my in the various roles will be governed by the individual’s type,
mother when she expected perfection of me, I actually used to the roles themselves seem to be found in everyone’s psyche.
draw the two-faced god Mercurius, although I did not yet Hence I regard them as archetypal complexes carrying the
know his mythological identity) (note 2). different functions, and I like to speak of them as typical
Finally, I began to see my extraverted sensation, the subpersonalities found in all of us.
shadow side of my Anima introverted sensation, as a Demonic I have spent many years verifying this scheme. Through
Personality that often operates as an undermining oaf, a observation of clients and others whose types and complexes I
beastly part of myself that nevertheless can occasionally be an have gotten to know well, and through the analysis of films by
uncanny source for the infusion of redemptive spirit into my master filmmakers in which archetypes and function-attitudes
dealings with myself and others (note 3). are clearly delineated, I have concluded that the relationships
The four archetypes of shadow—Opposing Personality, between these archetypes and the scheme of differentiation

12 • Jung Society of Atlanta


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Extraverted feeling Introverted feeling


Hero/Heroine Opposing Personality
#1(superior function) #5(shadow of Hero/Heroine)

Introverted Intuition Extraverted sensing Extroverted Intuition Introverted sensing


Father/Mother Puer/Puella Senex/Witch Trickster
#2(auxilliary function) #3(tertiary function) #6(shadow of Father/Mother) #7(shadow of Puer/Puella)

Introverted thinking Extraverted thinking


Anima/Animus Demonic Personality
#4(inferior function) #8(shadow of Anima/Animus)

DIAGRAM 2: ENFJ as an illustration of Dr John Beebe’s arrangement of the


archetypal complexes carrying the eight functions of consciousness

that results for the function-attitudes is not merely personal to References


me, but is actually universal.
John Beebe 2004, ‘Understanding consci-ousness
The archetypal roles within this scheme are shown in
through the theory of psych-ological types’, in J
Diagram 1. An example of how the model distributes con- Cambray & L Carter, Analytical Psychology, Hove
sciousness in an ENFJ is provided in Diagram 2. and New York: Brunner Routledge, pp 83-115.
Margaret T Hartzler, Robert W McAlpine, and Leona

T his model of the archetypal complexes that carry the Haas 2005, Introduction to type and the 8 Jungian
eight functions of consciousness is my present instru- functions, Mountain View, CA: CPP.
ment for the exploration of type in myself and others. James Hillman 1979 (1967), ‘Senex and Puer’, in J
Hillman (editor), Puer papers, Dallas, TX: Spring, pp
It enables me to see, in just about any interaction, what con- 3-53.
sciousness (that is, which function-attitude) I am using at that C G Jung 1971 (1921), Psychological types (The col-
given time. lected works of C G Jung, volume 6), London:
More importantly, the model allows me to see what Routledge. C G Jung 1959 (1954), ‘On the psychol-
position that function-attitude inhabits, and thereby I am ogy of the Trickster figure’, in The arche-types of the
pointed to watch for the archetypal ways in which, as a conse- collective unconscious (The collected works of C G
quence of being in that position, that particular consciousness Jung, volume 9), London: Routledge, pp 255-272.
C G Jung 1967 (1948), ‘The spirit mercurius’, in Alchemi-
expresses itself. cal studies (The collected works of C G Jung, volume
I am grateful that this model is leading present-day type 13), London: Routledge, pp 191-250.
assessors to take a second look at C G Jung’s foundational Emma Jung 1957, ‘On the nature of the Animus’, in
eight-function description of the types. Animus and Anima, New York: Spring.
My hope is that their increasing comfort with a total Isabel Briggs Myers, with Peter Myers 1995 (1980), Gifts
eight-function, rather than a preferred four-function, model differing: Understanding personality type. Palo Alto,
CA: Davies-Black.
will enable them to begin to recognize the extraordinary role
Henry L Thompson 1996, Jung’s function-attitudes
possibilities that emerge, both for good and for ill, as these explained, Watkinsville, GA: Wormhole.
consciousnesses differentiate themselves in the course of Marie-Louise von Franz 1970, The problem of the Puer
personal development. Aeternus, New York: Spring.
Marie-Louise von Franz 1971, ‘The inferior function’, in
M L von Franz and James Hillman, Lectures in
Jung’s typology, Zurich: Spring.
Note 2
In choosing the name Trickster for this side of my shadow, I drew Marie-Louise von Franz 1972, Problems of the Feminine
upon Jung’s classic delineations of the Trickster archetype (Jung in fairytales, New York: Spring.
1948/1967; Jung 1954/1959).
This article was first published in TypeFace 16:2
Note 3 (Summer 2005), and later in March 2006 issue of the
As with the Opposing Personality, the term Demonic Personality is my Australian Psychological Type Review. It is reprinted
own creation. In developing my model I deliberately left these terms here by permission of John Beebe, the British APT, and
large and vague to convey the vast stretches of personality territory the Australian Psychological Type Review.
involved in these dark and largely unexplored areas of myself where
my shadow typology expresses itself as character pathology. Text and diagrams © 2005 John Beebe MD, 337 Spruce
St, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
Winter 2008 • 13
© 2008 C.G. Jung Society of Atlanta

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